The Continuous Action
Walter Shaub
The Continuous Action explores the ongoing labor of democracy through conversations with those who do that work every day.
Join Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, as he talks with journalists, activists, government leaders, and philanthropists about their work — and what it takes to hold our government accountable to the people it serves.
The inspiration for the title “The Continuous Action” comes from the admonition by John Lewis that “freedom is not a state; it is an act.” Speaking of our duty as citizens, he proclaimed: “Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
The Continuous Action is sponsored by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), hosted by Walt Shaub, and produced by Myron Kaplan.
Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Top 10 The Continuous Action Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Continuous Action episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Continuous Action for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Continuous Action episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Banned from Office!
The Continuous Action
04/06/23 • 23 min
Is Donald Trump constitutionally disqualified from running for president?
In this episode of The Continuous Action, Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan examine a provision of the Constitution that bans insurrectionists from holding public office. The “disqualification clause” was ratified with the rest of the 14th Amendment just after the Civil War, and it hadn’t been used in the last hundred years — until a recent court case.
In 2022, a group of New Mexico citizens filed a suit alleging that a local county commissioner who was involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol should be disqualified from holding office. A state judge agreed, finding that the commissioner’s actions on January 6 qualified as having “engaged in ... insurrection.” The judge banned him from ever holding office again.
To learn more about the case, and what it might mean for others involved in the events of January 6, Virginia and Walt talk to POGO’s own Liz Hempowicz, who co-authored a report on applications of the disqualification clause. They also catch up with one of the lawyers who tried the Griffin case, Donald Sherman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Listen in to learn more about how this important part of the 14th Amendment works, who it might affect, what happened in the New Mexico case, and what’s coming next for candidate Trump.
For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Infiltrated!
The Continuous Action
04/27/23 • 22 min
A 2015 membership roll for the Oath Keepers, a violent, anti-government extremist group, included hundreds of current or former employees of the Department of Homeland Security. That’s according to a leaked document reviewed by the Project On Government Oversight. Since the creation of the document, members of the Oath Keepers, including its founder Steward Rhodes, have been convicted of seditious conspiracy and other offenses related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Any connection between this extremist group and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is obviously disturbing — especially considering the department’s role in fighting domestic terrorism. And this list may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. An internal study found that “significant gaps” have impeded the department’s ability to “respond to potential threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS.”
On this episode of The Continuous Action, Virginia Heffernan and Walt Shaub sound the alarm. POGO senior investigator Nick Schwellenbach joins them to share the findings of his investigation into the troubling ties between extremists and the government agencies responsible for protecting the public.
For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Wave
The Continuous Action
04/08/22 • 51 min
In the inaugural episode of The Continuous Action, former Office of Government Ethics Director Walt Shaub and journalist Virginia Heffernan begin exploring the issues confronting democracy by examining the wave of voter suppression efforts crashing across the states. They interview Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, about the fight for voting rights. They also speak with Supreme Court expert Dahlia Lithwick about the judiciary’s role in ripening the conditions for voter suppression. Their message: The fight for voting rights is urgent and requires the public to act – right now.
The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe
For episode show notes, visit pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Bonus: China’s Surveillance State
The Continuous Action
05/13/22 • 39 min
This bonus episode features our full interview with Maya Wang, the senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch. As Maya explains, a comprehensive, multi-layered surveillance system blankets much of China with one primary goal: to ensure that the Chinese communist party can rule forever. We included an excerpt of this interview in Episode 3, “The Eyes On Your Face.” But the rest of Wang’s harrowing account of this surveillance system was too compelling to leave on the cutting room floor. Join us for a deeper dive into China’s surveillance state.
The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe
For show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Anything Goes
The Continuous Action
04/13/23 • 29 min
Members of Congress write their own rules — and those rules allow stock trades galore!
In this episode of The Continuous Action, host Walt Shaub dives into topic of congressional stock trading, outlining the problems with the practice and asking the question we’re all thinking: How is this legal? He’s joined by a member of Congress who’s leading a bipartisan coalition working to make sure it won’t stay legal for long.
The fact is, there’s no way for us to know what our elected representatives learn in closed-door government briefings, or whether they’re profiting from that knowledge. But what we do know is that members of Congress and their immediate families are free to buy and sell stocks while they’re in office, and some of them are turning quite a profit.
Even if they’re all following the rules, the lack of adequate guardrails is enough to shake the public’s faith. And it has: at least one poll shows that more than 70% of voters favor banning congressional stock trading.
To learn more, Walt talks with Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) about the quest to ban congressional stock trading. Spanberger leads a bipartisan coalition of members, including Representative Chip Roy (R-TX), which is fighting to put a congressional stock trading ban in place. They may not agree on much else, but these dozens of members of Congress agree that time has come to stop the trades.
For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action
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Special thanks to Caroline Kenney and Jason Linkins, whose voices appear at the top of this episode.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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War Lies, Watchdogs, and Whistleblowers
The Continuous Action
04/22/22 • 54 min
In Episode 2, hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan explore a troubling truth: the government lies, particularly when it comes to war. The government has repeatedly misled the American people to justify starting or staying in a military conflict, leaving whistleblowers and watchdogs the dangerous task of exposing the truth.
Military expert Mandy Smithberger recounts how manipulation of intelligence information sent us to war in the Middle East, and activist Ben Cohen talks about the need for consequences when government officials lie us into war. The cohosts speak with John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, about the systemic pressures that led officials to exaggerate success and conceal failures, and he talks about the vital role whistleblowers play.
The episode also features reflections from Ron Ridenhour, who exposed the My Lai massacre and combatted a massive government coverup. His words drive home just how crucial whistleblowers are — and how hard it is for them to tell the truth. Finally, Walt explains what we can do to better encourage whistleblowers to come forward and protect them from retaliation.
The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe
For show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Authoritarian’s Fist
The Continuous Action
04/20/23 • 23 min
Imagine a world in which the president had unfettered power to use the massive federal workforce as a weapon against political rivals. In that scenario, federal officials would be forced to serve a political party’s interests instead of the public interest. Your access to federal benefits and services could be slowed or blocked depending on your declared political affiliation. That’s a world that former President Donald Trump tried to make a reality in the final days of his administration.
Exploiting a statutory loophole, Trump issued an executive order in October 2020 that could have made tens of thousands of federal employees, maybe hundreds of thousands, fireable at will by political operatives. Public servants could have faced retaliation if they reported corruption or refused to follow unlawful orders.
President Joe Biden rescinded the executive order before Trump could implement this new system. But the nation isn’t out of the woods. Congress has failed to close the loophole that made this plan possible. And now, there’s a movement to resurrect it and politicize the civil service.
On this episode of The Continuous Action, Virginia Heffernan and Walt Shaub delve into the issue with Rudy Mehrbani, senior director for governance at the Democracy Fund and a former director of the White House’s Office of Presidential Personnel.
For transcript and show notes, visit pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Over Classified
The Continuous Action
05/11/23 • 18 min
How did classified records wind up in the homes of former President Trump and two former vice presidents, Joe Biden and Mike Pence? In this week’s episode, The Continuous Action explains how the over-classification of government documents contributed to those news stories.
The government has been classifying far too many documents — just about everything its intelligence personnel can get their hands on. One time, the government even classified a mountain. (True story!) In this episode, Walt speaks with Elizabeth Goitein, who is senior director for Liberty and National Security at The Brennan Center. Elizabeth shares an alarming account of just how badly things have gone wrong and how overclassification hurts our democracy.
For transcript and show notes, visit: pogo.org/podcasts/the-continuous-action
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Introducing The Continuous Action
The Continuous Action
03/29/22 • 3 min
On The Continuous Action, co-hosts Walter Shaub and Virginia Heffernan break down some of the biggest issues facing our republic today. In this limited series, Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, and Heffernan, a seasoned journalist, interview experts, activists, philanthropists, and others on topics ranging from voting rights to government surveillance. Listen in on lively discussions as they analyze the issues and identify the actions we can all take to help hold our democracy together.
The Continuous Action is sponsored by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO). Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Eyes On Your Face
The Continuous Action
05/06/22 • 54 min
In Episode 3, hosts Walt Shaub and Virginia Heffernan grapple with government surveillance, focusing in particular on facial recognition technology and the ways that the government could — and already does — abuse this pervasive technology. Facial recognition expert Jake Laperruque describes the arms race between technology companies developing new software to be used by law enforcement on one side, and lawmakers and privacy advocates working to regulate this fast-developing technology on the other. Framing privacy as a human rights issue, Laperruque reminds us of the abuses of the post-9/11 era, when the government carried out indiscriminate surveillance of Muslim communities.
In our next interview, we step back and look more broadly at how targeted surveillance of all types can harm vulnerable populations, a problem that technology like facial recognition software exacerbates. Law professor and former prosecutor Paul Butler explains how the Supreme Court has unleashed the forces of control on minority populations. Finally, Maya Wang, the senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, paints a picture of the future we must avoid. As always, the show concludes with ideas about the actions listeners can take to help address these wrongs. This episode features some good news, as the hosts break down a recent victory by privacy advocates that forced the IRS to back off a plan that would have force some Americans to use problematic facial ID tech to access their tax records.
The Continuous Action is sponsored by The Project On Government Oversight. Stay tuned on the latest from POGO: pogo.org/subscribe
For show notes, visit: pogo.org/series-collections/the-continuous-action/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Continuous Action have?
The Continuous Action currently has 14 episodes available.
What topics does The Continuous Action cover?
The podcast is about President, History, Democracy, Podcasts, Freedom, Ethics and Government.
What is the most popular episode on The Continuous Action?
The episode title 'Banned from Office!' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Continuous Action?
The average episode length on The Continuous Action is 32 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Continuous Action released?
Episodes of The Continuous Action are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of The Continuous Action?
The first episode of The Continuous Action was released on Mar 29, 2022.
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